Hygiene articles, particularly disposable hygiene articles have a variety of uses, including infant diapers (sometimes also known as nappies), feminine hygiene articles (such as sanitary towels or napkins and panty liners), and adult incontinence wear (for example, incontinence pads and disposable undergarments). Each of these articles is designed to absorb and/or retain liquids and other body exudates and has in common the need for the article to be fixed in position relative to the body of a wearer. This may be done by adhering the article directly to itself such that it surrounds a wearer (in the case of infant diapers and disposable undergarments) or to an item of clothing (in the case of feminine hygiene articles and adult incontinence pads), or directly to the skin of a user (in the case of feminine hygiene articles and incontinence pads).
In the case of hygiene articles such as diapers and disposable undergarments, closure tabs are often provided in order to enable the article to adhere directly to itself. The closure tab typically comprises an elongate strip of non-woven material divided into a user end and a manufacturer end. Alternatively, the closure tab may form part of an ear panel of an article, such as a diaper, which is an extended portion of one of the front portion or the rear portion of the hygiene article, and therefore typically has only a user end, as the manufacturer end is integral with the ear panel. The user end is provided with a fingerlift portion, typically comprising a fastening-free region, to enable a user to grab hold of the closure tab between thumb and forefinger such that the tab can be closed (meshed with or adhered firmly to a surface of the hygiene article) and opened (released from a surface of the hygiene article). At least one region of the user end may be provided with an adhesive and/or mechanical fastening means. The manufacturer end of the closure tab is again a fastening-free region, and is provided to allow the closure tab to be fixed firmly to the hygiene article. This may be by means of an adhesive, or a thermal or ultrasonic welding process. The non-woven material may be reinforced along part or all of the length of the closure tab, and the fingerlift portion may be shaped, for example, by providing a scalloped edge, to make lifting the user end of the closure tab up from the surface of the hygiene article easier for the user.
One particular situation where the fingerlift portion provides advantages for a user of a hygiene article is during the opening or removal of the closure tab from a surface of the hygiene article. For example, if a mechanical fastening means is employed to fasten the closure tab to the hygiene article, the elements of the mechanical fastening means (such as hooks, stems or cup-like protrusions) will mesh with the fibres of the region of the hygiene article used as a landing zone. In order to open the closure tab, the user must provide a certain level of force to unmesh the fastening elements from the fibres of the landing zone. For a particular width of mechanical fastening means provided on a closure tab, having a leading edge adjacent the fingerlift portion, and a trailing edge adjacent the manufacturer end, the force required to remove it increases steadily from an initial value require to release the leading edge until the trailing edge is finally free. A user therefore experiences an increased resistance to pulling whilst the closure tab is being removed, and a sudden decrease when the trailing edge is finally free. This means that a user may feel that the closure tab was not adequately secured in the first place.
One method of reducing this user perception of difficulty in removal or inadequate security is to divide the mechanical fastening means into several regions extending across the width of the closure tab, and along the length of the user end. One example of this is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,373. A fastening tab includes a user bond portion having a leading and a trailing edge separated from each other by a lateral spacing distance, and has a securing mechanism (such as a mechanical fastening means) at each of the leading and trailing edges. The lateral spacing distance helps to distribute closure stresses more evenly. A similar effect is described in EP 1 663 095 B1, where a hook fastening material is provided on the surface of an ear panel provided on a diaper. The hook material is divided into two regions, separated by a gap. It is suggested that the gap reduces the transmission of the induced stress developed in one of the fastening materials to the other, which in turn reduces the likelihood that one of the fastening materials can become detached due to this stress. Similarly, EP 0 755 665 A1 discusses the use of two regions of hook and loop fastening material rather than a single region, as this reduces the chance of the fastening becoming unintentionally disengaged.
Each of these documents deals with the issue of the perception of the user that the closure tab may not be securely fastened. However, there is still the issue of how a user perceives the force required to open or release the closure tab, and whether this has a negative impact on how well the user feels the hygiene article is secured, as well as the issue of the ease with which a well-secured closure tab can be removed completely from a landing zone.